Text

Grant information
$800, March 2010

Project members
Project Leader: Works Progress
Collaborators: Colin Kloecker, Shanai Matteson

Online resources
•Project website

Project summary
The great recession has left many creative individuals seeking meaningful work, while community-focused organizations and small businesses scale back to remain solvent. Addressing these changes requires innovation and collective problem solving. Members of Works Progress will transform Intermedia Arts into a temporary employment agency where creative work meets community need. Soliciting collaborators with help wanted ads on craigslist and bulletin boards, this experiment in co-working will pool the skills and resources of underemployed individuals to complete real community projects. Members of the FEAST community are invited to submit work orders or to become part of the work crew.

How will your project manifest at the next FEAST, to be held in approximately 12 weeks?
Help Wanted will complete crowd-sourced projects during the course of an exhibition at Intermedia Arts entitled We Work Here (June 5th - 23rd). At the next FEAST, Works Progress will present a report detailing which community projects were completed and how these investments of time and effort have improved the creative climate of the Twin Cities.

How will you use funding towards the realization of your project?
A generous donation of space and staff time has already been made by Intermedia Arts. FEAST funding would cover start-up costs for this temporary employment agency, including the design and fabrication of a HUGE mobile community job board, the purchase of necessary office supplies, transportation to and from work sites, and healthy snacks to fuel the creative work of participants.

Why is this project critical to the community?
Help Wanted will serve as a creative model for addressing unmet community needs with under-utilized resources. By connecting creative workers to organizations and each-other in a playful way, Help Wanted will build networks for an emerging creative economy. Finally, by experimenting with small business as creative platform, Works Progress further develops the notion of economic sustainability through community-driven art.

Grant information
$800, March 2010

Project members
Project Leader: Works Progress
Collaborators: Colin Kloecker, Shanai Matteson

Online resources
•Project website

Project summary
The great recession has left many creative individuals seeking meaningful work, while community-focused organizations and small businesses scale back to remain solvent. Addressing these changes requires innovation and collective problem solving. Members of Works Progress will transform Intermedia Arts into a temporary employment agency where creative work meets community need. Soliciting collaborators with help wanted ads on craigslist and bulletin boards, this experiment in co-working will pool the skills and resources of underemployed individuals to complete real community projects. Members of the FEAST community are invited to submit work orders or to become part of the work crew.

How will your project manifest at the next FEAST, to be held in approximately 12 weeks?
Help Wanted will complete crowd-sourced projects during the course of an exhibition at Intermedia Arts entitled We Work Here (June 5th - 23rd). At the next FEAST, Works Progress will present a report detailing which community projects were completed and how these investments of time and effort have improved the creative climate of the Twin Cities.

How will you use funding towards the realization of your project?
A generous donation of space and staff time has already been made by Intermedia Arts. FEAST funding would cover start-up costs for this temporary employment agency, including the design and fabrication of a HUGE mobile community job board, the purchase of necessary office supplies, transportation to and from work sites, and healthy snacks to fuel the creative work of participants.

Why is this project critical to the community?
Help Wanted will serve as a creative model for addressing unmet community needs with under-utilized resources. By connecting creative workers to organizations and each-other in a playful way, Help Wanted will build networks for an emerging creative economy. Finally, by experimenting with small business as creative platform, Works Progress further develops the notion of economic sustainability through community-driven art.